High quality on-screen display of evidence

Stadelheim Prison, Munich, Germany, is one of the largest prisons in Germany. Founded in 1894, and covering an area of 14 hectares, it has space for around 1,500 inmates. In September 2016, a new high-security courtroom was opened inside the jail. This courtroom, one of the largest in Germany, can accommodate up to 250 people. A key advantage of the new courtroom is that high-risk defendants no longer need to be transported across Munich to be tried at the Central City Courts. Instead, potential security risks are avoided as prisoners can now be brought into the courtroom inside the jail, using a secure entrance and underground passageway, without needing to leave the confines of the prison.

The Stadelheim Courtroom is undoubtably one of the most modern facilities in Germany, and in common with many courtrooms worldwide, a WolfVision Visualizer has been installed to facilitate live imaging and display of evidence to court participants. To ensure that installation of a Visualizer would not obstruct views across the courtroom, and to keep the working surface area free of equipment, a VZ-C123 Ceiling Visualizer was selected.

All kinds of items such as documents, books, weapons, maps, drawings etc. can be positioned easily within the synchronized lightfield of the Visualizer, and in turn shown in high quality on a large screen for all court participants to see. The VZ-C123 features an impressive depth of field which means that larger 3-dimensional objects are always sharply focussed from top to bottom. Additionally, with the camera and light projector of the Visualizer situated side by side, on-screen shadows are almost completely eliminated.
The selection of the VZ-C123 with its tele-zoom lenses was important because the high ceilings inside the courtroom with a distance of 6.5 metres between Visualizer and desktop working surface, meant that only a WolfVision Visualizer would be capable of providing high quality imaging and safisfactory performance.

The system is installed together with a Crestron control system, and the judge retains full control over materials shown on-screen using a preview monitor. The installation was carried out by WolfVision partner Media-tek GmbH from Bodenkirchen, Germany.